Germany: SPD approves coalition talks with Merkel

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

A party conference of Social Democrats on Thursday gave the go-ahead for coalition talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc CDU/CSU.

A proposal submitted by party executives to enter preliminary coalition talks with Merkel’s conservatives was approved by a large majority of the 600 delegates, after eight hours of heated debate at the conference.

SPD leader Martin Schulz told delegates that preliminary talks would be conducted in an "open-ended" way, and would not necessarily mean Social Democrats would become part of a coalition government.

The SPD’s youth section “Jusos” voted against entering coalition talks with Merkel’s Christian Democrats, arguing that the election result meant voters had rejected the option of another "grand coalition" between the SPD and the CDU/CSU.

The young Social Democrats called for a comprehensive reform within the party.